BRECKLAND BIRDINGSaturday 12th March 2016

We started the day in the northern section of the Brecks looking for raptors, but in murky conditions viewing was rather difficult. With perseverance we did manage to find up to four COMMON BUZZARD plus SPARROWHAWK and KESTREL.

A female GOSHAWK was seen briefly cruising slowly above the treetops but it quickly vanished from view and didn’t appear again.

Moving on we cruised round a few back lanes where we came across a superb GREY PARTRIDGE just a few feet from the road which was good to see.

From here we headed south to a small area of Forestry Commission land where we found a pair of WOODLARK which eventually gave good views in both flight and on the ground. STONECHAT and YELLOWHAMMER were also seen here.

With our stomachs rumbling, we drove to Santon Downham for lunch noting a male GOOSANDER along the way. Whilst tucking in we watched COAL, BLUE and GREAT TITS in the carpark. With time slipping away we moved straight to Lynford Arboretum where we strolled down to the paddocks.

Almost immediately we located a HAWFINCH perched on top of a conifer and with a bit of searching, we found at least six birds together! A check of the feeders by the bridge and up near the house produced NUTHATCH, MARSH TIT, LONG-TAILED TITS and a few flyover SISKIN.

We rounded off the day at Cavenham Heath where there was no sign of Stone Curlew but we did see several STONECHATS, another singing WOODLARK and a GREY WAGTAIL which rounded off a good day.